Use your pictures and PhotoFunia to create photo collages, flyers, family trees, holiday albums, and more. No registration is needed! PhotoFunia has hundreds of effects and filters. More are added weekly. To add shadows, age your photo, or render it black and white just visit the Filters category. Add clever features such as an astronaut or a Santa suit, a witch's hat or a queen's crown. Looking for an attractive frame for your photos? Find one here. Write on the sand or graffiti text on the wall. Carve your name on the ground or create your very own road sign using text effects. The program is as easy to use as picking the effect and uploading a photo. Save it to your computer or email it. Try using PhotoFunia online with no registration, or get the free app for iOS or Andriod, and most other smartphones. At the time of this review, all photo effects appeared appropriate for use in the classroom. However, we always suggest you preview the tool before sharing it with students.

In the Classroom

You do not need to be artistic to transform a personal or stock photo into a stunning work of art or even an amusing image. Adjust any image's color intensity, value, and hue using the filters. Use this tool anytime that photos need to be edited for use in class blogs, newsletters, wikis, or websites. In primary grades, this tool could be useful for teachers to use to edit pictures from a field trip, science experiments, and more. Share the editing process with your younger students using your interactive whiteboard or projector. Edit together! Encourage older students to use this site themselves on images for projects or presentations. Use the features and effects to edit images to fit styles of photos when doing historical reports or to set the mood.

What was life like in 20th century America? Explore the major events and watershed moments, as well as everyday life during the decades. Read both fiction and nonfiction books about times that brought the Model T, an influenza epidemic, and flappers. Dig deep into the Depression and life during wartimes. CurriConnects thematic book lists include ISBN numbers for ordering or searching, interest grade levels, ESL levels and Lexiles''® to match student independent reading levels to challenge, not frustrate. For more on text complexity and Lexiles''®, see this information from the Lexile Framework. This list features books for all levels of readers. Let students choose a book in one area of interest during the 20th century and share with the class about times long before they were born. Don't miss other CurriConnects themes being added regularly. If your library does not have the books, try interlibrary loan!

In the Classroom

Make the first half of the 20th century come alive during your unit on American History. Have students choose a book from this list and present their impressions from it in the form of a blog post from the times using a tool such as Throwww (reviewed here). This site allows you to create "quick and easy" blogs to be used one time only. There is no registration necessary! Collect the links to all the student posts on your class web page for students to browse and gather a "human" experience of history.

Why just record your voice or send a message the same old boring way? Use cartoon and movie characters to speak your message instead! Type your message in the box. There is a 25 word limit. The site takes clips from TV and movies to create a short video. Each word uses a different clip. If a clip is not available for a word you pick, Crumbles uses a computerized voice instead. A silly tool, but a fun one to enjoy. Click create link to share or share via Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to monitor students carefully as clips can be found from ANY word that they type into the message. It would be a good practice to approve messages students want to create before sharing the tool with them.

In the Classroom

Use this engaging (and fun) tool to create an announcement for the start of a student presentation. Create one to share the writing prompt for the day. Students may be inspired by the movie/TV clips that generate the message. Create a "6 degrees of" type assignment where the video/TV clips generated must have something in common. Students can take time to look at the clips to identify items in the background, characteristics of the actors/actresses, etc. Create a similar type of message from video clips of students taken throughout the year. Or, create your own by taping students saying words and splicing them together to create a similar end result. Use a tool such as StepUp reviewed here.

FollowUpThen provides simple email reminders for any email address or device. Use FollowUpThen to clean up emails sitting in your inbox. Forward it to FollupThen, and include a time or date to receive the email back. Add FollowUpThen as a recipient on any email to receive a reminder to follow-up on the contents. Be sure to watch the introductory video and read the "How To Use" section for complete information on the capabilities of using FollowUpThen. The free plan offers up to 50 follow ups per month.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Use FollowUpThen to receive reminders when waiting for email responses from colleagues or parents. Set up annual or monthly reminders for recurring events such as conference dates, programs, or report card due dates. Clean-up your email accounts. Send yourself reminder emails for due dates, future projects, parent contacts, and more.

Love Google Doodles, those fun and spontaneous changes to the Google logo? View the gallery of Google Doodles on this site. Click About on the top menu to learn the background of Google Doodle. View the Doodle Archive with the newest Doodle appearing first on the page. Click the information button (i) for each doodle to bring up an information box. Click on More Doodle Details to go to the Doodle page or click Search for to learn more about the topic or date. Move from one Doodle to the other by clicking the forward or back arrows on each Doodle page. Click Doodle4Google to view the Google contest. The competition typically takes place during the Fall. Click on Classroom Activities for typically takes place during the Fall. Click on Classroom Activities for ideas on sparking and nurturing creativity in kids of all ages. Check back to find the next Doodle4Google contest for students.

In the Classroom

This amazing collection of Doodles can be used to spark thinking in a variety of classes. Use the Doodles to teach a little history. View the resources about the event, person, or country that inspired the Doodle. Encourage thinking with your gifted kids by sharing the whole gallery for exploration or a specific Doodle. Use these Doodles to spark a new project idea or challenge kids to create a simple "doodle" as a new way to report on a historic figure or a content idea. Think your students will be intimidated making a computer Doodle? Consider creating a Doodle using any computer art software or simply creating one on paper. Use these ideas in Science to show the scientific inventions or concepts. In social studies, use Doodles to showcase specific events here and around the World. When looking at perspectives of people around the world, create doodles that can show more than one point of view. Write paragraphs or stories based on Google Doodles. Use Google Doodles in STEM initiatives at your school. Don't forget Art or Gifted programs! Get your students excited about the making of the Doodles and what code writing can do! Use tools such as Scratch, reviewed here, or Tynker, reviewed here, to practice coding.

Comments

Great ideas for short, informative paragraphs to practice this type of writing. Let kids find a google idea for a day, for their particular world/setting/priorities...FUN! Archives are instructive.Patricia, NJ, Grades: 6 - 12

ImageQuiz uses images as a starting point for creating learning quizzes. Choose from quizzes on the site or create your own. Choose from the list of all quizzes, take a random quiz, or pick from popular tags such as math or physics. Create your own quiz easily. Upload any image and draw lines around desired areas. If you wish, add a question for students to answer. View the video tutorials for complete instructions. This site was created in the UK. American English speakers may notice some slight spelling differences.

In the Classroom

Create an ImageQuiz to review any topic such as items in world language, places on a map, rock formations, cell diagram, etc. Share a link to the ImageQuiz on your class website for students to use for review at home. Have students create ImageQuizzes for review on any subject.

The Annenberg Learner Foundation's goal is to advance excellent teaching in American schools. Annenberg Learner's multimedia resources help teachers increase their expertise in their fields and improve teaching methods in all grade levels in all subjects. There are video resources for all subject areas. Find lesson plans for all subjects by grade level. A variety of interactives accompany lessons or can also stand alone. Follow the monthly updates and blogs for the latest information.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

In your classroom, explore the interactives available to enhance your lessons. Use the lesson plan library to add a new twist to your subject matter. Organize a professional study of your area of concentration for your department or grade level.

Expect more, Achieve More is a coalition of business, community, and educational organizations working towards higher standards in education. Find explanations of Common Core and its importance in our country and government. A parental brochure explains the importance of Common Core and ways to assist at home. View the importance of Common Core to teachers and community members.

In the Classroom

View the videos and brochures done by the Expect more Achieve More. Students need to know the new expectations of the Common Core. Share the most important snippets of the videos with them by using a tool like Stepup.io, reviewed here. This tool allows you to put together just the parts of a video you want to use. Share Expect More, Achieve More at parent informational nights or even include on your school website and individual teacher websites.

Create your own flashcards using Cram or find what you need from Cram's library of over 50 million flashcards! Browse by subject to find flashcards or use the search box to explore available cards. Create your own flashcards then download and share for use on PC or Mac. View flashcards in several modes such as traditional flashcard, memorize, or test. Shuffle cards or place in alphabetical order for studying.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

Create flashcards for your classes or have students make their own. Try using them as an introduction to a concept, then again in the practice of the concept, and again as a final review. It is a nice three for one creation deal! This would be great for teaching Latin prefixes and suffixes of words. Use for science terms, or standardized test preparation. Try having students create flashcards and share with each other to quiz themselves within their own groups. Teach students in higher grades how to create flash cards with multiple blanks to challenge their brain to remember more pieces of the puzzle. Show them how to carefully read through classroom notes and underline the most important word or words in a sentence. Then have them leave out the most important words for their flashcards. Learning support teachers might want to have small groups create cards together to review before tests. Have students create flashcard sets to "test" classmates on what they "teach" in oral reports. Be sure to check the data base for already created sets to save you time making them yourself!

More than a student response system, Verso allows you to create lessons, track and group students' responses, collect data, and give everyone in the class a voice. Create a class and students join using a unique code. Create lessons containing instructions and content such as a video or video clips, sound recording, document, or link to a website. Students cannot see responses by others until they have submitted their own choice/response. Once students can see others' responses, they are anonymous. Only the teacher can see who made each response. Students can "Like" and/or comment on others' responses, anonymously. Students and teachers can flag comments they deem inappropriate. Teachers can see who made comments and choose to hide or show it. Use Verso in the classroom or at home on any device. This app is perfect for flipping learning since it will work on any device and the web. There are many instructional videos available to help you get started! The videos are hosted on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, they may not be viewable. You could always view the videos at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.

In the Classroom

See ideas for creating lessons on Verso by clicking on the tab in the top menu labeled "Getting Started." You will see several "challenges" (lessons) created by teachers. There is plenty of video support for setting up your classes, getting students registered, and creating lessons. There is even a "challenge" for students to use before you assign them your lesson. If you have ever wanted greater student engagement, increased student interest, and heightened discussion and interactivity in your classroom, Verso is the answer. Students can give their input and express their views anonymously. This tool will give everyone in your class a voice, even the shyest student.

Use this site to create unique lessons that require critical thinking responses from your students. Math and science teachers can use annotated images such as a microscope, cell, equation parts, etc. Pose questions or allow students to pose their own "I wonder if..." questions as they watch and listen. In world language classes, have students use new vocabulary to comment on descriptions of what they see while classmates act out a scene from a video or novel. Autistic or behavior support students can guess the feelings of the people while watching a video. For longer videos, you may want to put a tag or comment in certain areas before uploading them to Verso. Use a tool like Zaption, reviewed here, for students to pause the videos and ask or answer questions right on the video.

Find over 100,000 unusual and interesting drawings, paintings, photographs and advertisements related to medical and social history through contemporary healthcare and biomedical science. This site is dedicated to the history of health and medicine, and the oldest examples go back two thousand years. Everything is available under Creative Commons licensing. Browse the collection through the galleries or search by keyword. The titles of the galleries are Explore, Favourites, Science, History, Art (for Schools), and Galleries. Under each title, find several categories such as Olympics, Health, World, Pathogens, Cell Division, DNA, Vaccines, Surgery (Ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, Modern), Aids Posters, Patterns and Texture, and many more. The site was created in the UK, so some of the spellings may differ from those in American English.

In the Classroom

History, science, and art teachers can explore the galleries dedicated to those subjects to include pictures in newsletters, blogs, and class websites. Share the site with students on an interactive whiteboard or projector when they need images for projects. Find images from locations you are studying in world cultures or geography class. Find images to use in student online projects such as Bookemon (to create online books) or Superlame (an image editor to add text and thought bubbles). Art teachers can find images for students to use as references or in photomontages (with credit). Use images for writing prompts or even to create descriptive sentences. Have one student describe the image as the other sketches the image. Now compare the described image to the real image. Keep this site as a reference link on your class web page for any time students are creating wikis, blogs, or electronic projects where they need images.

Ed on the Web for Owlets is an online reading club for children ages 7 and under. Every month features recently published books with reviews, reading activities, and author interviews. Scroll down to explore Edtime Stories, Ed's Word Zone, and Ed's Numbers. Some specific topics include Ed's Fun with Numbers, Ed's Spelling Corner, Ed's Poetry Zone, and several others. Check out the archive and find many more Edventures into reading with wonderful books! This site was created in the UK. American English speakers may notice some slight spelling differences.

In the Classroom

Imagine the excitement of featuring new books on an interactive whiteboard or projector every month with your students. Use the suggested reading activities during learning centers. Start following Edventures in your class. Share Ed's Poetry Zone during Poetry Month. Provide this link on your class website for families to use to find books, spelling activities, word fun, and math practice. Share the Number Quizzes on your interactive whiteboard or projector. Use the activities in Ed's Word Zone to create interactive learning stations or as an activity in your 1-1/BYOD classroom. Start a class blog with children suggesting their favorite book. Put the blog URL on your class website so that families can follow the class favorites. Haven't started blogging yet? Check out TeachersFirst's Blog Basics. Allow families to add reading activities on the blog to accompany the stories. Help parents, grandparents, and children discover newly published books and interesting ways to share them!

Build interactive video lessons with playposit (fka eduCanon). Create an account and get your teacher code for students to use. Either paste in the address of the YouTube or Vimeo video you want to use, or use keywords to search YouTube and find it. Stop the video at any point and input a reflective pause or multiple choice, fill in the blank, check all that apply, and free response questions. Find several tutorial videos for playposit (fka EduCanon) on YouTube. If your district blocks YouTube, the videos may not be viewable. You could always view them at home and bring them to class "on a stick" to share. Use a tool such as KeepVid, reviewed here, to download the videos from YouTube.

In the Classroom

Create playposit videos for use in your flipped classroom or for differentiating instruction in any subject. Assign videos to individuals or groups of students. Monitor student usage and progress using the site's tools. Allow students to create their own videos to review classroom material. Create videos for beginning of units, end of unit review, or ongoing instruction throughout the year. Share with Special Education and ESL/ELL teachers as a resource for creating and differentiating assignments. Create playposit videos for end of year review sessions.

The Common Core America Achieves website features lesson videos in Common Core shifts, key teaching points, expanded high school resources, and editable lesson plans. Find ways to assess the quality of resources. Explore the resources provided for a number of great websites to improve your instruction. Explore the What's New area on the homepage. This is a great site to save in your professional online "bin."

In the Classroom

Use with your colleagues to improve your curriculum and teaching methods. Evaluate your resources to ensure you are using quality materials. Use this resource as a professional learning group study. Find lessons that are ready to use in your classroom that encourage high quality Common Core standards.

This is not the type of prompt you might think it is! This is an "identify something" prompt. Upload an image, type in where your students should drag the red dot to identify a certain aspect of it. Keep it short. You only have 24 characters and spaces to use for the prompt. Give the URL to your students and they have a fun way to let you see what they know with a technology twist. This site is very simple to use and no registration is required! Be aware: this tool allows you to see an overall view of if the CLASS "gets it" or not. But you have no way of knowing which students drag the dot to the wrong place.

In the Classroom

Share your prompt on your projector or interactive whiteboard. Create prompts that have to do with content area subjects. Use this site for formative assessment. Geography teachers can find a blank image (or map) of a state or country and ask students to place the dot where the capital city is. Share a photo of a cell (or other science topic) and challenge students to identify the nucleus or cytoplasm. Share a photo of the Solar System and challenge your students to drag the dot to a specific planet. You could also use this tool with very young students viewing a picture. Help students learn names of body parts (nose, eyes, ears, etc.) by sharing a photo and having young students drag the dot to the correct location. Challenge young students to find specific words in the photo. Of course a simple formative assessment such as this can be used for any subject, as you see fit in your own classroom.

Not only can you create dazzling photo slideshows online, but the Roxio Photoshow products are full multimedia presentations. And the best part: no registration is required to get started! (Certain features do require a membership.) Combine your photos and video clips with broadcast-quality credits, captions, transitions, effects, and a great musical soundtrack. The features do not stop there! You get a personal web page and can create a custom web address for it. On your web page, create channels (like galleries). Add as many slideshows to channels as you would like. You can also add a friend's slideshow to your channels. Share your Roxio Photoshows on your membership web page.This site includes advertising.

In the Classroom

The possibilities for using this tool in the classroom are limited only by your imagination. Students can show their understanding about cell development, how to use a microscope, the causes of the fall of Rome, types of landforms, the events in a novel, or just about anything else you can think of. Have them upload an image, add captions, transitions, and music. Create a Roxio Photoshow by finding Creative Commons images for student projects (with credit, of course), using Compfight, reviewed here. Have students search for suitable music for their presentation by using Royalty Free Music, reviewed here, or ccMixter Dig reviewed here. Of course, you will require them to show their sources in the credits!

Follow the step by step directions to create a photo trading card using this tool. Create real or fictional Trading Cards about people, places, events, objects, or abstract concepts. Follow the prompts to complete the information and choose whether to save as a draft or final. You can share via email or print.

In the Classroom

Use the main character in a story your class recently read and demonstrate this tool using your projector or interactive whiteboard. Social studies classes can portray a famous person or event in history. Science classes can develop trading cards for plants, planets, cells, or just about anything else you study. In a geography class, use cards to describe a place. Students can use trading cards to help them remember facts and vocabulary from any class. Teacher-librarians can encourage students to make trading cards about books or authors. Use cards at the beginning of the year for students to create a trading card about themselves. After sharing with classmates, post them on a bulletin board for back-to-school night.

Create interactive, mobile-friendly story "maps" that include videos, links, forms, images, and even text. "Maps" can be images with clickable spots or a geographic map using Google maps as an interface. You can create a story around an image. Some interesting maps in the Showcase are America's Biggest Rodeos, 2014 Nobel Prize Winners, Africa's Forever Wars, and North America 360. Sign up with a username, password, and email. Click on the three bars in the top left corner to see a menu. Look at Showcase story maps or create a new project. There are basic templates and a style editor to change colors of the map features. View maps on any device that can access the Internet. Share by embedding on your website or blog, via email, or through social networks.

In the Classroom

Use maps for current events, geography, or much more. Use your interactive whiteboard or projector and show a sampler of Showcase maps to students. For example, share Great Women in History and The American Revolution. Consider asking a small team of students to create a Heganoo about a historic event or environmental issue you are studying. Have the student team demonstrate to the class how they created the project and how to use Heganoo at the same time. Heganoo would make a great project for any subject area. Students can create a Heganoo about a battle, a natural disaster, a famous scientist or mathematician, an author's life, or a short story you just read. Creating a Heganoo would be a good project for your gifted students to extend their learning about any subject.

Build your understanding about the art of dance. Find engaging and interactive resources, videos, games and learning tools. Enjoy the information about the history of dance and biographies of hundreds of dancers and choreographers. Read the advice for how to become a professional dancer. The videos use Quick Time. There is a Your Turn section where you can compose in a Virtual Dance Studio and quiz yourself about dance, anatomy, and health-related topics. This site is from Canada. Some spellings may differ from American English.

In the Classroom

This site would be of special interest to students who are thinking about a career as a dancer. Other uses for this site would be P.E. classes completing a dance unit, a health class when looking at different forms of exercise, drama classes wanting to incorporate dance into a play, and language arts students looking for biographies to read. Introduce this site on your interactive whiteboard or projector or include it as one of several options for student projects.

Explore the world of poetry through Karla Kuskin's eyes. Start with a study of her poetry, and see her come alive through her biography. Write a poem using Kuskin's guidance. Read tips for writing and editing poetry. When finished, post your poem online! See examples of other student poems.

In the Classroom

Bring poetry alive in your classroom with Karla Kuskin. Begin with an author study of Karla Kuskin, and analyze the structure of her poetry. Follow the step-by-step instructions to instant poetry success. Create a virtual class book using Bookemon or create a Prezi,, to share your students' creative ventures. Share your poetry with other classes in your school by displaying them outside your room. Be sure to link to your students' work on your class website. Organize a poetry evening, and include this form of poetry! In content area subjects, create poem riddles for special topics or units to examine and explain the significance in each riddle. To learn more about riddle poems see the I Spy Riddle Rhymes with Jean Marzollo, reviewed here.